Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Queens Noir

Nineteen of the borough's notable authors, including Daily News columnist Denis Hamill, wove gloomy tales about its neighborhoods, from Astoria to the Rockaways, into a soon-to-be released book, "Queens Noir."

Compiling the twisted tales wasn't daunting at all. The book's editor, Robert Knightly, who has also contributed to noir collections about Brooklyn and Manhattan, found Queens a particularly fertile ground for the eerily ironic.

"Queens is bigger than Brooklyn physically, and it has more pockets of different people, more opportunities for the bizarre," said Knightly, who lived in Jackson Heights for 13 years.

The terrifying tome is 340 pages of wickedness, including an ill-fated ride on the No. 7 train, a disturbing pickup at JFK Airport baggage claim and Hamill's story of a Bayside dinner date gone horribly wrong.

It hits shelves Dec. 18 at select bookstores - including the Barnes & Nobles in Bayside and Forest Hills - but early Christmas shoppers can reserve copies at AkashicBooks.com or Amazon.com.

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